Moto trip Croatia - Rijeka

        Here we are halfway in our trip.

        Today we are in Rijeka and we started the trip by visiting the upper part of the city, in the Trsat area. Here you can find the Church of Mary of God of Trsat, Pančićev park and of course, the most important objective and symbol of the city, Trsat Castle. Visiting the castle is free. Dating from the 13th century, the castle is located on a hill overlooking Rijeka and offers amazing panoramic views of the city, the Adriatic Sea and the mountains of Istria.

        We went down to the city center to continue exploring. We saw the Ivan Zajc Croatian National Theatre, Palace Modello, Leaning Tower together with the Church of the Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary, Cathedral of St. Vitus. 

        To the left side of the cathedral are the military tunnels of the city; can be found under the name TunelRI. This place represents a military facility and is the first tunnel of its kind opened exclusively for tourists. The tunnel stretches under the Old Center for a length of 330m and was dug by the Italian military at the beginning of the World War II to protect the population from aerial bombardments. The other 2 exits were closed so we had to go back the same way we entered, but going through the tunnel didn't take more than 10-15 minutes round trip, and the entrance is free.

        Next, we entered the PEEK&POKE Computer Museum. As we were used to, Croatia is full of non-conformist museums, and this is another one of them. The museum offers an entire history of computer technology, from the World's first gigabyte HDD which was the size of a refrigerator, to the first radios and telecommunications systems, to typewriters, the first gaming consoles and the first Apple products.

        We took advantage of the opportunity and played on everything that could be played, on every console, on every computer or arcade. The museum is spread over two floors, so that on the ground floor you can find everything related to gaming, computers, servers and memories, and on the first floor there is an exhibition of typewriters, telephones, radios, pickups, photo-video cameras and many others. I caught here a group of scholars who were completely fascinated by how technology looked at its beginnings, by the fact that phones had buttons and even swivels, by the fact that a monitor, instead of being flat, was an enormous box with a pixelated screen, and we were also happy to see them enjoying the old games like Mario, Mario Kart or PacMan that were part of our childhood. I warmly recommend this place, and IT’S A MUST to those who are passionate about it.

        After the museum, we continued walking through the center visiting the City Clock Tower Gradski Toranj, Radio Rijeka, Venetian House, Church of Our Lady of Lourdes and finished the walk along the seafront along the port.

We returned to the parking lot and took the motorcycles back up the hill because, 10 minutes' walk from Trsat Castle is the Konoba Tarsa restaurant known for traditional Croatian food and the best wines from local producers. The restaurant has become one of Rijeka’s prime venues for a slap-up traditional meal. Pay particular attention to the platters for two; specialities such as the Franjo Glavinić pork chop stuffed with pršut and mozzarella or the Maksimilijan squid with baked potatoes and vegetables are well worth the extra outlay. We served “lupper” here because it was already 6 o'clock in the evening, then we returned to the accommodation and prepared our luggage for the next day.